"Men of few words are the best men." - William Shakespeare, King Henry V, Act III, Scene II

Origins of the QMBC

The Quincey Morris Book Club - Founded 2009

Background

There are many men in Dublin, you know, who, some from shyness, some from misanthropy, have little or no wish for the company of their fellow man. However, these same individuals are also not averse to comfortable chairs, draught ales, delectable vittles and contrarian-elitist literary discussion. It is for the convenience of these individuals that the Quincey Morris Book Club was founded and it now contains some of the most unsociable and unclubable men in Dublin.

The club was established in October 2009, as global financial markets faltered and unemployment surged, the popularity of book clubs increased in Ireland leading to a spate of poorly-regulated, inadequately-minuted book clubs. It was a particularly chilling account of a meeting of just such a “white-wine” book club from a member’s spouse that spurred the QMBC into action. Our goal was to create a book club which was a paragon of gentlemanly order and bonhomie backed up with intense literary discussion which would be minuted in great detail on the club’s website. www.qmbc-online.com

The Quincey Morris Book Club is so named out of respect for one Quincey Morris (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quincey_Morris). The hard-living, gun-loving, knife-wielding wealthy young Texan who has affectionately come to be known as “The Quinchester” is widely regarded by most QMBC members to be the real hero in Dracula, the first book read by the club, and as such was deemed by all members to be a suitably arbitrary totem for the club's activities.

The Members

The QMBC consists of 7 hand-picked members; individuals from the highest echelons of Irish society who have been selected for their specialist skills from legal, scientific and financial backgrounds.

In order to ensure that the candid nature of QMBC discussion is not inhibited, the members have opted to use pseudonyms in the published records of their meetings. These pseudonyms are shown below: